


White Whispered Goodbyes

by gala_apples



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Reality, Infidelity, M/M, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:39:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gala_apples/pseuds/gala_apples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard has always known he can never keep Mikey. He just never thought he'd lose him like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Whispered Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my "set in a video 'verse" fics. This is set in I Don't Love You, and as such every person in this AU is very literally black or white. Neither race is valued over the other.

It’s one of the truths of the world. The kind of thing that philosophers like to muse about, religious fanatics purport happen thanks to God, and scientists know explanations for. There are many of them; how did the world start, what came before us, why is the sky blue. There’s only one that Gerard cares about. If anything he’s a philosopher; he doesn’t want to praise God or blame the devil for it, and he doesn’t want to hear about DNA. Hell, he doesn’t really want to muse about it either. He just wants to understand why people are onyx or ivory.

Gerard hasn’t believed in religion in years. He hasn’t gone to church, nor has he read a text or listened to a sermon on the radio. He’s been out of school for years, and stopped taking science courses years before that. Hearing that it’s the choice of God would do nothing to ease his pain, learning that for either composition of parents there’s a fifty-fifty chance means nothing. The cards fell the way they did, and there’s nothing that explains the heart of it, the _real_ why. The truth of it is like his parents Gerard is ivory and three years later Mikey was born onyx. There’s nothing that can change that.

Gerard supposes he should consider himself lucky they live in a only moderately conservative state. Someone onyx marrying someone ivory is illegal everywhere in North America. The issue goes deeper than legality, every person Gerard has tried to talk about it with considers the idea horrifying. Still, he lives in a state where he won’t necessarily be bashed to death if he’s seen with someone onyx. Spit on or called names, probably, but not viciously murdered. It’s an important distinction.

More importantly, he lives in a state where parents with an opposite colour child are allowed to keep their son or daughter. All over the south there are Republican states where the moment an ivory child is born to onyx parents or vice-versa they are taken away. More common than actual legal seizing is hospital staff switching newborns with another mother giving birth. All hospitals have to publish their off colour rate, and those with higher rates get less funding, as if it’s their fault that a child is born the wrong colour.

But the parents still know, they have to. Gerard’s never seen anyone giving birth, but there has to be that instant before the baby is swaddled and taken away that you can see it’s ivory while both parents are onyx. Sure, some parents are happy to switch. Some genuinely match their moral code with the state law that says no family shall be comprised of both colours, and don’t _want_ an off colour infant, even if it is their own child. But Gerard thinks that most parents are secretly devastated. He has to believe it, because humanity can’t be that fucked that what happens is viewed as okay to the majority.

Gerard lives in New Jersey, and a few decades before he was born his home state repealed the seizing law. It was a legendary court battle, and one that Gerard is grateful for. He can’t fathom who he’d be without Mikey.

Which is the problem in a nutshell. Gerard loves Mikey. He’s as sure as one can be that Mikey loves him. But when they’re together they must be so careful, more than any other set of lovers. It’s crucial that Mikey doesn’t smudge on him, and that he doesn’t wipe on Mikey. It’s another classic truth to bicker over; when onyxs and ivorys touch for long periods they stain each other. It doesn’t wash off with any known soap or chemical, it has to fade away naturally. Mikey and Gerard can’t afford to touch each other anywhere visible that couldn’t be easily explained as brotherly touch. They’ll be in a world of trouble if anyone sees white lip prints on Mikey’s mouth, or black hand prints on Gerard’s hips. 

When Mikey gets a girlfriend it gets even harder. It’s not so much that she takes up a lot of Mikey’s time, in that regard Gerard’s gotten lucky. Neither Mom nor Dad like Bianca. Every time she visits the house they do their best to make her feel out of place and awkward. Gerard’s sure it’s not because she’s onyx, Mikey’s onyx friends have spent years of Mikey’s life in the house. There are a hundred reasons for it; she laughs at all the wrong things, she doesn’t ever remember to take her shoes off at the door, she doesn’t drink coffee. When Ray or Pete come over, Mom always asks them if there’s someone else they can set Mikey up with. She’s not subtle about it, and as time goes on Bianca comes to the house less and less. Mikey fails to step up his amount of time spent outside the house to match, and Gerard doesn’t have to hide his relief because it’s all over his dad’s face, and so his expression isn't out of place.

The real problem is that for the first time there’s someone making marks on his brother. More specifically there’s someone that makes marks and notices when there are marks that aren’t hers. Even when Gerard and Mikey fuck almost fully clothed so that they don’t streak white and black on each other, there are still hickeys and scratches to worry about. At least, Gerard considers it a problem. Mikey seems to take as much worry from cheating on Bianca as he takes from being in love with his brother. Which is to say none.

In the end though, it doesn’t matter. Mikey tells him one night that he proposed. The idea seems obscene to Gerard, but Mikey says it’s the most he’ll ever love someone that isn’t him. And what can Gerard possibly say to that? He hates it, but he has no right to try and stop him. At least Mikey has another, even if it’s just pleasantry, not passion. Who does Gerard have?

Mikey’s wedding is a nearly all onyx affair. Bianca grew up in Tennessee, was adopted when she was a week old and only came to New Jersey after college. There are no laws discouraging opposite colour friends, just moral codes, but Mikey and Bianca’s collection of loved ones is still primarily onyx. The priest is onyx, the organ player is, and the rehearsal last night showed at the reception all but two of the waiters will be. Mom and Dad thought colour split schooling was stupid, and SVA was open as well. Gerard’s never been somewhere so segregated in his life. He feels very out of place, and he thinks that’s the point, at least subconsciously.

Before the procession he kisses Mikey’s cheek. It’s a long enough touch that it stains, a ring of white on black. Others will see it as a mark of brotherly affection, akin to a hug or a handshake. Only he and Mikey know it for what it is; a final declaration and relinquishing.


End file.
